Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Welcome Patti to the convertible today! It's been breezy here in MN lately, so don't keep the top down too long, ok, Patti?

Before I get started, I wanted to announce that to celebrate the June 30th release of EDGE OF DAWN, I'm giving away a copy of IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, the first book in my Light Warriors series. To be eligible, leave a comment and one random winner will be chosen.

One of the questions I get asked the most is where do I get my ideas. The quick answer is everywhere--and it's true--but I can't write them unless (and until) I have characters.

With EDGE OF DAWN, my heroine, Shona Blackwood showed up while I was writing her older brother's story. I knew as soon as I heard her name that she had a book, but I didn't know much about her beyond her name, the fact that she was ten years younger than her brother, that she lived in Seattle, and that she was a talented glass artist. I had no hero for her and no plot.

Fast forward a few months. That's when Logan showed up. He's the Seattle-based troubleshooter for the Gineal people (they're a society of magic users) and he has a problem--whenever he uses too much magic, he has a seizure. Not good when his job is to fight demons and other evil beings in order to protect humans.

This was enough for me to start thinking, hmm, what if Logan has kept this a secret from his bosses? What if Shona is in danger, and since he's the Seattle-based troubleshooter, they assign him to protect her? What if he's told he must keep magic a secret from her? And what if Shona has a secret of her own, something that she doesn't realize is the key to the danger she's in? Now I'm starting to get a story!

I spend a lot of time living with my characters, getting to know them--what drives them, what scares them, what their greatest fear is--and then I use it against them. Hey, they torment me, so it's only fair that I get to torture them in return, and besides, at the end they get a happy ending and true love. I think they're getting the best end of the deal.

Shona has lost her ability to do her art and it's always been her passion. She doesn't understand why her desire to work is gone and she nothing she's tried brings it back. Then there's this guy who tried to mug her and seems to be stalking her because he keeps showing up again and again.

Logan has more problems than his overuse of magic putting him down for the count, too. He's sworn an oath of fealty to his council and he's never rebelled against them, yet his promise to keep the truth about the Gineal from Shona is weighing on him. If he obeys his bosses, he's betraying Shona's trust. If he tells her about himself and magic, he's committing treason and possibly putting his people at risk. Okay, maybe I do enjoy torturing my characters because I smiled as I wrote this.

But it's the characters who mold the story. Their actions and reactions decide which direction the plot is going to head and each hero and heroine is unique. If I were to take a different set of characters, plop them in the same situation, the story would change quickly because they'd make other choices.

Logan's twin, Kel, for example, wouldn't be particularly worried about the council's orders. Sure, he'd try to follow them, but when they didn't work for him or the situation any longer, he'd use his own judgment and face the consequences later. But then Kel has dealt with things far worse than the council's wrath and that experience has him making different decisions than his brother.

This is probably the reason why I write--to see what choices my hero and heroine are going to make and what the outcome is going to be. Even as well as I know my characters, they still manage to surprise me. It happens in every book and EDGE OF DAWN was no exception. Um, I was going to share some of them here, but realized they were spoilers. Let's just say I didn't expect anyone to show up and telepathically talk to Shona. And that was merely the beginning of my whoa moments.

I love the surprises, though. Seriously. If I knew everything that was going to happen before I sat down and wrote, well, why bother then? It's all about the journey for me, the discovery. I want my characters to do things that make me mutter to myself. Okay, maybe I like it better after the book is turned in on time, but still it's pretty cool to have my hero and heroine take over and tell me what they're going to do. And usually what they decide is much more interesting and ends up working better than anything I was thinking of doing. Now this is what I call magic!

If you'd like to find out more about me or any of my books, swing by my website: www.pattioshea.com. I have excerpts from all my books, back cover blurbs, and info on what's coming next.

What was the biggest surprise moment you've come across while reading a book? Was it something the characters did or the direction the story took?

Hi PattiAnd welcome. your book DOES sound wonderful. And just in time for a summer reading session.As for surprises? My characters are constantly surprising me as I write. Sometimes I wish they'd just tow the line, you know? but then, what fun would that be?

Thanks for joining us, Patti. Your imagination sounds off the hook. No wonder people ask where you get your ideas. Love the sound of this book.

Sometimes characters pop into the book I'm writing and it's totally unexpected. It's not uncommon for those characters to become the focal point later on because it's so easy to fall in love with those loose cannons.

Hi Patti! Love reading how the characters and story all blends together and creates the whole theme! With your heroine being a glass artist, did you need to do research for that? What did you find most interesting while researching that?

I do love the surprises that comes with stories (but too I don't need them either, if the book doesn't have it, it all depends on the story itself). I recently read a few books where there has been some heroes that had a tough past, etc. I then was totally surprised reading a historical with a hero and heroine falling in love earlier in the book and admit it right out, and then are up for all the challenges presented to them. Too the humor and 'free feeling' and too romantic passionate couple was just took the direction different than I've been reading lately!

I apparently need a Kindle...and need to go out and purchase some of your books. I follow you on Twitter and love getting little tidbits about the writing process as well as your current projects. I love to read a series that follows the characters through like that way you realized the sister had to have her own book. I love to have those connections. Good luck and cannot wait to start reading!

Book sounds wonderful! Biggest surprise? Um...my heroine put the hero in place by reciting poetry. Never expected to go there. Never wanted to. But what's a writer to do? If they insist on flirting/bickering with poerty, then it must be done.

Actually, because Shona is blocked on her art, I only had to do minimal research into art glass. It surprised and amazed me just how many glass artists their are and the kind of cool things they can create and I guess that would be the most interesting thing. I didn't realize just how fluid and beautiful some of the pieces are.

You're right, it depends on the book whether or not surprises are necessary. Different stories beg to be written in different ways.

My Kindle is getting filled up, too. :-) I did an interview this week and mentioned your "Bad To the Bone" as one of the books I reread often. I gushed all over you when you did the workshop in Minneapolis a few years ago, but I totally love that book!

Thanks for hanging with me on the tweeting. I probably talk way too much there.

I love my Kindle, but it's dangerously expensive--at least for me. I don't realize how much money I've spent because I just download sporadically, then boom. Bill comes. At least if I'm carting paperbacks up to the cash register, I have an idea what I'm spending.

Thank you so much! My characters are why I write so I'm excited that you enjoy them!

I do, too, on the books I read. And I like it in the movies and TV, too. I just had it happen recently on the series "Life On Mars." Their explanation for everything made me go "ooooh!" and now I want to watch the whole series again to see all the clues that I'd missed earlier.

Great post to make us think, Patti! My biggest surprise moment while reading that I remember to this day - especially because I rarely overtly respond to a book - was the scene in Bridges of Madison County when Francesca read that Robert had had his ashes spread around the bridge near her home where they'd spent the day when he was with her. I actually gasped out loud because that was so unexpected and so romantic and lovely! Gosh, talking about it makes me want to reread it now!